


Lost (and Found)

by supurbangothic



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Reunions, Sleep Deprivation, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, spoilers for episodes 333 and 339
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25548040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supurbangothic/pseuds/supurbangothic
Summary: Alternate Title: I have to do everything myself. There's absolutely no Gregor/Markus content on this website or anywhere else so I took it upon myself to make some. Set during the events of Episodes 333, 336 (kinda), and 339. Basically just Gregor trying to hold it together while looking for Markus and finally finding him again. Pre-slash oneshot.
Relationships: Markus Velafi/Gregor Hartway
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Lost (and Found)

There’s a smile, and a wink, and then Gregor is left grasping at empty air, Markus’ name dying in his throat. Not _Markus_ dying, because Markus isn’t dead, cannot be dead because he is Markus Velafi and he’s done a thousand and one impossible things just in the five years Gregor’s known him. Markus isn’t dead, he’s just...gone. Somewhere. And Gregor pleads with Harlock to open the rift again because he knows, he _knows_ he can fight magic and all he’d have to do is reach in and tug Markus out by the tail and then everything would be fine. Well, maybe not fine because then they’d still have to deal with the rift but at least there wouldn’t be this ever-widening rift in Gregor’s chest where Markus’ smile usually is. But there is, and the next few minutes - hours? - pass in a haze. He’s vaguely aware of Zalvetta and Inien and Thog now joining them, and there’s some magic nonsense about a rose that he doesn’t understand but Harlock says it means that Markus is alive somewhere and _of course he is,_ but it’s still nice to hear. 

The thorns of that rose are digging into his hand and he hears Thog say that Ashe is gone. Disappeared. Except people don’t just disappear, they either die or they don’t die and just like Markus, Ashe _can’t_ die. (Except they can, a small voice in his mind whispers, and he shies away from mental images of owlbears and flames and the gallows lined with familiar faces.) But at the same time Gregor doesn’t know where she could have gone and has no way to track her, so he grips the rose so hard his hand starts to bleed and nods along as the others come up with some plan. He can’t even put up much of a fight at the idea of stealing, and it makes guilt burn in his gut but not as badly as Markus’ absence.

While they’re on the sea to Tannhauser, Gregor writes letters. Not only to Markus’ homeland but to any friends he can think of, asking if they’ve seen the tiefling. No-one has. Gregor can’t sleep, because there’s no _time,_ he has to find Markus. It’s not like he sleeps very well - or at all - without Markus in a bedroll at his side anyway. Harlock says it’s been weeks but to Gregor it just feels like one long nightmare of a day, a nightmare he keeps wishing he could wake up from; turning over to see the way the early morning sun glints in Markus’ hair in the moments before the tiefling blinks open blue eyes. But he doesn’t wake up, and all he can think of is how he was going to finally get to _tell him,_ after the whole Castle Crowhenge debacle. He’d been working himself up for one single conversation for months (hell, even years), and now Markus is...gone. Not dead. He’s not. But he isn’t _here_ and Gregor can’t tell him anything, not even that he’s not really certain of the moral repercussions of piracy and he wishes the crew would stop singing those sea shanties so he can get back to being suitably misera- lonel- sad.

They arrive in Tannhauser and Gregor reminds himself he needs to stay vigilant. Markus is slippery, he could be under any rock, tree, grain of sand, or piece of wood and Gregor would hardly notice him. So he looks. Everywhere. Harlock and Inien are looking at him with worried expressions, but he barely pays them any mind. His senses are attuned for any signs of golden hair, blue eyes, the flickering glint of an eldrich blast or an eye beam. He barely hears The Silverfish as they speak with Harlock, eyes darting around the small room, settling on the floorboards. There’s...something. He gets down onto his knees and peers into the slats between the wood, eyes widening and heart thundering at what he sees there.

“Sparkles…” he mutters excitedly, turning to Harlock. “There are sparkles in the floorboards!” Not only sparkles though. These are Kyr Fiore patented Markus Velafi Tiefling Entrance Enhancers™, recognizable from the faint smell of brimstone and the way they’re already burning slightly through the floor. Gregor whips his head around, thinking maybe Markus will jump out from behind a barrel or something, but then the door across from him is opening and he hears a tenor voice that makes him want to weep.

“Aw yeah, I got that sonofabitch like he was a- oh my god _Gregor?!”_

He’s leaping forward before he even registers the movement, crying out Markus’ name as the tiefling catches him around the middle and pulls him against a bony chest. Gregor is dimly aware of Harlock and Inien joining the hug behind him, smushing him between the three of them, but all he can focus on is the smell of brimstone and warm, delicate hands holding him tightly. Neither of them let go, even when Inien and Harlock step back a fraction.

“Between you and me I don’t think the boy can take much more,” he hears Harlock say, and is slightly affronted. Gregor pulls his head away from Markus’ hair but keeps his arms firmly looped around the tiefling’s neck.

“Of course I’m okay,” he says, and even as he continues he knows it isn’t a lie, even if he has been a bit...directionless without Markus at his side. Of course he’s okay. Markus is standing _right here_ with his arms around Gregor’s waist, solid and _alright_ and _alive._ And sure, they haven’t had that conversation just yet and it seems like they might have another crisis on their hands, but all of that comes later. Ashe is still missing, but that comes later. For now he’s content to let his eyes rake over golden hair and sharp blue eyes that soften when they meet his gaze, at a strong face split with an ecstatic - if worried - grin. Yeah. He’s okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Fanart of Gregor and Markus drawn by myself.


End file.
